Lady Sage

Pirates of the Carribean 2

Long LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG movie. I liked it though. Great costumes and make-up fabulous twists and I laughed so hard I nearly choked. Special effects were dazzling to say the least.

8/10 (I only docked points because it was soooo long)

Grancey

Invincible 9/10

I really, really liked this. The opening with Jim Croce was excellent to set the time. And Mark Wahlberg was an easy to believe Vince. I guess the only thing I didn't like was that it ended too soon for me.

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Quiet, mild-mannered souls might just turn out to be roaring lions of two-fisted cool.

Kadath

Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor) -- 7/10

Solid movie. The visuals were unsettling, though more in the sense of camera work than gory stuff. Enjoyable. If they bring the other two over to the US I'll definitely watch them.

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it's quiet in here

Lady Sage

Episode 1 10/10
Visuals were stunning, costumes and hair were fabulous and the digial/animatronic aliens were superb! The Darth Maul saber scene goes without saying.....

Episode 2 4/10
Zzzzzzzzzzz Lack of substance but the visuals were good

Episode 3 8/10
The fight scenes were darn near without compare. Plot twists out the yin yang and kept me on my toes. Lucas tied up his ends well.

pan6467

The Star Wars "preludes" 1-3 (I cannot rank these seperately)=

They weren't bad, I liked JarJar, I could feel comfortable with Yoda and Obi-Wan, but Lucas made it very apparent from the beginning who the Dark Lord of the Sith truly was, so the suspense of finding out or looking for clues throughout the films were very much spoiled. The whole "immaculate conception" of Anakin stunk and had too many religious undertones.

I think a good plot twist would have been to have Anakin the son of Darth Sidious somehow. That would kind of seperate the Luke/Anakin storyline in that you'd see the one kill the father and the one save the father. A nice twist if you think about it. They could have arranged it so that Anakin's mother had never known. Having been a slave girl, she found herself one night with a man that had paid her master... or whatever.....

Overall, predictable, long and somewhat boring..... 5/10

Pirates of the Carribean 2 Dead Man's Chest =

A spectacular movie. Yes, it was long, but I don't see what they could have cut out. There is a sequel and I feel that everything was in there for a purpose, that purpose may not have been immediately seen. As for romance, very high between Depp and Knightly, a great chemistry and I look forward to seeing more of it. The threeway sword fight in the waterwheel...... unbelievably original and hysterical.

I cannot get over Depp's acting, it was like the character was made for him. Depp is a very decent actor but this series is most definately his crowning achievement.

This is not a knock on anyone else's acting, in fact this movie, to me, was the most well acted movie I have watched in years. It seemed like the actors liked their roles, liked the plot and had fun playing it. There didn't seem to be the "I need to have a dramatic scene" or "I demand more airtime, and only profiles from the left" or "I want to bring social-political meaning into the film".

It was just a "Fuckitall, let's have a blast" type movie and it showed.

Is 3 going to be predictable? Probably, I already can imagine what will happen, and even if everything I believe will happen does happen.... it will be exciting to watch.

I rate this movie a 9.9/10 and a definate must see.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Sultana

Snakes on a Plane!

8/10--if you like cheese! Fortunately I do. It was hilarious! I won't be buying the dvd though--unless they have good accessory footage about the internet phenominon.

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"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come." -

Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

hambone

I just watched K-Pax. I thought it would be horrid, but I actually enjoyed it.

7.5/10

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"Like liquid white from fallen glass,
Nothing to cry over"

Lady Sage

Lady In The Water

Wow, I havent had such a good time at a movie in a while. It was totally enthralling!

9/10

longbough

Poseidon
5.5/10
Just a series of suspenseful scenes strung together. Characters and situations are taken from other disaster films - just done more poorly. Even the special effects are mediocre. Still, it has a few thrills the first time around. Not good enough for a second viewing.

Ch'i

Crank

Well thought out, consistent, 100% entertaining, hilarious

9/10

Kadath

Munich - 8/10

Very powerful and disturbing. Loses points for the sex scene at the end.

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it's quiet in here

Mantus

Snakes on a Plane

I love planes and snakes fuckin rock! This is hands down the best movie about snakes on a plane ever made.

The only way they would top this is if they made a movie about cyborg plane-snakes!


note the anti-SamuelJackson 50mm gatling cannon mounted on the underside

seretogis

Friends with Money - 8/10

It was done well, and was the first movie since "The Good Girl" that I actually enjoyed Jennifer Aniston in. Add to that Catherine Keener (who is lovable in any role) and Joan Cusack and it's very difficult to fail. The last 10 minutes or so, unfortunately, resulted in a major point of cheese and shouldn't be watched. :P I suggest stopping the movie after the benefit dinner.

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seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

Lwang9276

crank - i thgouth it was good, nice action sequences, and funny for some reason 9/10

pirates 2 - loved the movie, everythign bout it, the fight on the wheel..wow how do you film that? i thought that was the most intense sequence i've seen in a while 10/10

invincible - great movie, thoguht it coulda had more things happen, but the man played on special teams if he was a WR then things coulda been more interesting, but nevertheless great overall
9/10

Kadath

Battle Royale II -- 5/10

Derivative and dull, though I didn't expect any different. Some interesting new ideas, but not enough to carry the sequel.

Stripes -- 7/10

Those points are all for the first hour, then the movie quickly becomes rambling and pointless. But that first hour is comic genius.

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it's quiet in here

Oread

Control Room - 8/10

A documentary that gives a behind-the-scenes look (as well as a different perspective) on the Arab news network Al Jazeera.

Enlightening & enjoyable to watch.

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Intellectual curiousity goes barefoot.

Jove

Hoot 6/10: I think the part of the story was inconsistent and not edited very well, but the idea for the movie was pretty good. The teen actors did a pretty good job with the dialog being so weak.

RV-6/10: A fun film made for Robin Williams and the story had a few laughs, but it was kind of dry. All of the main characters were well developed, but it seemed to end quickly. The special features were okay and the director's introduction to the gag reels was rather odd just because of the way he spoke and acted.

Willravel

The Illusionist 9/10:
Down-right entertaining. Norton delivers a stellar performance as Eisenheim, the magician. Paul Giamatti's Chief Inspector Uhl is the perfect character to play both ally and enemy to Norton. I don't believe I'm going to say this, but Jessica Biel of 7th Heaven gives a believable performance, though Elanor Tomlinson, who plays a younger version of Biel's character does a better job. The storyline is riviting and classic in the area of a magician based mystery/thriller. I won't give too much away, but at the end you'll leave happy.

Crank 7/10: This was so much better than what I was expecting. I came to this movie with the understanding that it was intended to be an action flick (i.e. no real story line, character development, etc.). While I was right, the rest of the movie managed to make up for the action movie cliches. The visual effects really enhance the sense of being on cocaine and the mystery drug. Spoiler: Pay careful attention to Frank's pattern shirt. It's a fricking trip. If you like action flicks, you'll probably like this.

The Protector 8/10: At this point, I think I can safely say that Tony Jaa is the most talented martial artist in movie making today, second only to Bruce Le in cinima fighting. I only wish he could have been discovered before the Matrix trilogy. That would have been something. The Protector has an elephant based storyline that is hidden benieth the real reason everyone will see this film: Tony Jaa doing things that superheros would have trouble with. I'm beginning to wonder if Tony was bitten by a radioactive spider. Nedless to say, The Protector is filled with thrilling martial arts battles and stunts that are really entertaining. Don't see it if you like storyline. See it if you like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, etc.

biznatch

I'm always late with movies I really wanna see, but I fina;;y saw:
-The Island:
7/10...The plot was quite good, and I liked the way the evnets turned out, Ewan McGregor was quite believable as a clone. The woman, however, was weird in her role, and I think she was hired more for her looks than for her skills.

Batman Begins:
10/10... I can't remember the last time when I got the chills from the coolness of a movie.
Christian Bale is very good for Bruce Wayne, I like the new Alfred. Ras al Guhl was played pretty well. I think that overall I liked the feeling of Gotham City and it's streets crawling with criminals and corruption.

fresnelly

The Banquet Starring Ziyi Zhang. 9/10

This is an epic Chinese historical similar in style to House of Flying Daggers. The set up is that the Emporer was assassinated by his Brother, who usurps the throne. The new False Emporer takes the Empress as his own, but she still loves the exiled Prince, who is the true heir and also technically, her step-son and step-nephew. Confusing? It's not really, especially if you know Hamlet, upon which this is loosely based. All you need to know is that revenge is the order of the day.

The scenery and cinematography are amazing, and though this isn't strictly an action film, the fight sequences, choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping of Matrix fame, are stunning. Actually they were way more graphic than I was expecting, with plenty of impalings and blood everywhere. Nobody dies cleanly here.

It's a bit melodramatic at times, underscored by welling music but, this is a quibble. If you don't like foreign films or stylized dramas, then this isn't for you, but it definitely has a lot to offer.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

Min

<u>Night Watch</u> and <u>Day Watch</u> parts one and two of a movie trilogy, there is a possible fourth, from Russia. It pails to say it's the eternal battle of Good and Evil, there's an intriguing twist in that both sides allow a certain amount of leeway, as long as the rules are maintained. I found the first installment slightly confusing but, was sucked in completely. The second was far better in effects and storyline.
This is certainly a case that I'm going to buy the books as soon as they are in paperback.

MexicanOnABike

Running Scared: 9/10
this is weird because i had not seen a single preview or heard about it but i checked it out on RT and in the user comments, i felt like i had to see it so i rented it last week. I must say, it's quite entertaining from start to finish!

story: some guy in the mafia world has to get rid of a gun used to kill a cop but when the gun turns out missing, theres a whole night full of evens to find the gun.

Acting is pretty good, storyline is great!, the way the movie is shot is awesome. the end is a bit predictable but still good.

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- Movie Reviews - Ratings-

Kadath

Fritz the Cat - 0/10

I hate everything I've ever seen by Bakshi. I hate his style, I think he's a lazy hack. And this cartoon was just stupid. It reminded me of a line from the Simpsons. Kent Brockman shows their "standard 60s montage" that consists of footage from Vietnam, Woodstock, etc. At the end he says "What a shrill, pointless decade." That's how this cartoon made me feel about the 60s. Any of you who lived through it, well, I feel sorry for you.

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it's quiet in here

biznatch

The Great Escape
8.5/10
I just saw this classic movie for the first time, and I loved it. Steve McQueen is great as always, and the other actors were good too. If you like old movies, you should definitely enjoy this one

Embic

Jackass Number 2
10/10
I saw this last night, and it was awesome. They definatly topped number 1 by far. This is the funniest movie ive seen in a while. Ill admit that its not for everyone, but i love this type of humor so it get 10/10 for me.

Sage

Clerks 2
9/10

I think it's Kevin Smith's best and funniest movie so far. It's got a good story, the pacing of the movie is good, it has a happy ending, and there's parts of it that were so funny tears were coming out of my eyes from laughing so hard. I thoroughly enjoyed it

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Daoust

The 40 Year Old Virgin
Finally got around to seeing this film, which I rented in part because I love Steve Carell in The Office. Anyway, in the end I didn't like this film. I knew it was going to be crude, and I'm not too often turned off by crudeness, but in this case I was. There was funny parts, but it was lowbrow, lowball humour. Just above pee and poop jokes. Carell is funny, but not as funny as in the Office, and the other characters are really not funny. Except the Indian guy who says something like "Love is about family and passion, not about giving the rusty trumpet or the dirty sanchez." Now that I laughed at. But only for a short time.

I'd have to give this movie a 4/10.

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I have faith in a few things - divinity and grace
But even when I'm on my knees I know the devil preys

MexicanOnABike

United 93

little spoilers but you probably allready know the story.
this is a weird movie for me to watch since i sorta believe the conspiracies around the 9/11 day. I'm glad they didnt use a single known actor and they didnt focus on any characters which made it feel much more like everyone was involved.
The movie starts with the highjackers in their hotel room getting ready for the day and keeps following them through out the film. i think this killed the feeling for the ppl in the planes since i had no idea who they were and they were less shown than the highjackers.
Overall, i think the movie should of focused on the ATC instead of the planes. i thought the ATC was so much more interesting to see and the characters had emotions. in the end, theres more action on the ground than in the plane.

7 / 10

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- Movie Reviews - Ratings-

Ch'i

Fearless - 27/10

This is one of the single best movies I've ever seen. Captivating, well thought out, consistent, engaging, amazing.

The fight coriography is some of the best I've seen, and though the movie is based on fighting, they don't overdue it. This movie has an underlying emotional content that hooks you, and really brings out the story.

Go see it

biznatch

I'm watching Hero again on Spike TV right now, and I definitely want to see Fearless.

I also want to see that new Tony Jaa movie, even though Jaa's movies aren't as beautiful and epic, his skill is amazing.

Grasshopper Green

The Last Kiss

Loved it. One of the three best movies I've seen all year. The acting was fantastic. The story was realistic. The movie was spot on about human weakness, fears, and relationships...both the good and the bad. This is an absolute gem in the beginning of the "big" movie season, and I'm glad I didn't miss it. 4.5/5

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

bookerV

Jackass 2 - 9/10

The point of the movie was to make you laugh at guys doing stupid stuff, and it succeeded. I laughed my ass off pretty much the whole way through. Money well spent.

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"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy."

Lionel Hutz

Leto

!!!! funny you should post that. I just watched it yesterday. Plus the extras which explained how it was based on reality.

I found the cinematography to be pleasant to experience compared to more current movies. Apparantly they moved the production of this movie to Germany, because the site that they chose near Los Angelas was going to prove to be too expensive to transport 200 extras to on a daily basis. The union representing the extras forced the issue, and the movie had to move to Germany.


edit:
Oh, yes, 8.5/10 as well. some cheese factor, but excellent entertainment. also, consider that there were no female actors in this production. It starred:

Steve McQueen
James Garner
Richard Attenborough
Charles Bronson
Donald Pleasance
James Coburn

amongst others

shesus

I haven't rated a movie in awhile. But we watched 2 tonight that were very hyped up and I wasn't as impressed as all the reviews.

FINDING NEVERLAND 8/10
I did like this movie. It was fun and had good looking actors (Depp and Winslet). However, I didn't think it was *as* good as the media portrayed it. The special effects were great and I love that era. The kid actors were amazing. Overall, it was an entertaining film. I wouldn't buy it, but I'm glad I watched it. I cried at the end...a lot So I hated it in that respect because crying is horrible.

MONSTER 3/10
This movie was painful. I wanted to end it after the first 10 minutes. I couldn't stand looking at either actress (Theron or Ricci). It took a lot to make them look that hideous I think. Even the lesbian and topless scenes were lost and made me a bit sick to my stomach. The story was interesting and based on truth, but I wouldn't watch it again or recommend it to anyone. I was sick of the 'woe is me' 'men are pigs' rationale through the whole movie. Also, the characters lacked any strength and were awkward. Maybe it's the frame of mind I have right now, but it is a movie I just didn't care for.

__________________
Whatever did happen to your soul?
I heard you sold it

Choose Heaven for the weather and Hell for the company

mixedmedia

I finally got around to watching Confessions of a Dangerous Mind this weekend. I loved it! Sam Rockwell was brilliant and George Clooney looked charmingly stodgy. Excellent balance of flashy auteurism and plainspoken narrative on the part of Clooney's direction. I give it a 9/10.

I also watched the bonus footage for the Concert for Bangladesh this weekend (somehow it ended up in my queue before the actual concert??). I loved what I saw and can't wait to see the concert film sometime this week.

Also, I recently watched Grizzly Man. I highly recommend this documentary. It seems a little canned and sentimental at first, but it grows on you. This film haunted me for days after watching it. I give it an 8/10.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

biznatch

I recently saw Hard Candy.
Pretty good movie overall, but extremely creepy. Acting is very good, from both main actors.
8.5/10

The Sentinel, starring Micheal Douglas, was an average flick. The plot had nothing too original, but the movie kept me entertained. I guess it's pretty much a guy flick.
7/10

roachboy

happiness of the katakuris.

hilarious. so so strange...it is a different film every few minutes, but mostly it is a warped musical, kinda like you'd imagine the sound of music to end up if you left it out in the sun to curdle and that was then turned into a film by takashi mi'ike. were you to imagine the sound of music left out in the sun to curdle that is. a couple of the musical numbers--like the one that breaks out while the katakuris are burying the body of their first hotel guest, the one who may or may not have committed suicide--are supremely warped and are therefore quite lovely and really should be seen by everyone.

almost in the same league as wild zero, the strange zombie film featuring that immortal band guitar wolf, which was perhaps best undestood as the ramones of japan. i say almost because (a) happiness of the katakuris is less stupid BUT (b) it doesnt have guitar wolf.

grizzly man: an interesting film.
i was a bit irritated about the extent to which werner herzog makes it into a film about himself--by likening timothy treadwell to klaus kinski for example---but the footage is extraordinary and the film's subject deeply problematic in a complex kinda way. the residual deleuze i have clanging about in my skull made me wish that something more had been done with the "becoming bear" aspect of the film, but it nonetheless provided ample material for this riff to unspool in my head, which is perhaps enough.

spirit of the beehive: a beautiful claustrophobic spanish film from the early 1970s about--well lots of things, really---the franco regime is obvious the subtext--but the story involves two little girls--sisters--in a tiny rural town in spain who see the film frankenstein and then have an adventure that doubles frankenstein in interesting ways. there are some truly beautiful sequences--all of the interiors shot in the main house are amazing to look at,, particularly the honeycomb windows and the yellowish light they generate that permeates all the shots---the sequences involving the girls walking across a huge field to the site of the principle adventures....just a beautiful visual experience....

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

bookerV

The Departed 9/10

Amazing movie. It lived up to the hype. I don't want to spoil anything so I will just say that it was well worth the admission price...

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"That's why you're the judge and I'm the law-talking guy."

Lionel Hutz

mixedmedia

I agree with you about Herzog's insertion of himself so much into this film. Overall, the film had the feeling that it turned into something, perhaps, inappropriately personal and almost cultish - considering his interaction with and (to me) over-the-top "performances" of the people who knew Treadwell. It is an odd film. But I see you found it strangely affecting, too.

I've always heard about Spirit of the Beehive but have not seen it. I'm going to put in on my queue - sounds good.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

lindalove

The Departed had really good performances all round, I feel. Even from Alec Baldwin, whose character had some really funny lines ("I LOVE THE PATRIOT ACT!"). The ending was brilliant, really unforgiving and shocking - that is, what happened wasn't exactly shocking, but the way it happened was.

There was one standout scene for me. It's kind of a tiny spoiler, so I'll put it under a cut:

Spoiler: At one point, Leonardo DiCaprio is with Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, and his life is basically being ripped apart. The music comes together, the acting is incredible, it's simply amazing, and stayed with me for long after the film ended.

Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio played excellently off one another. DiCaprio's character is basically a LOT better than Matt Damon's - it's far deeper and more involving.

The script is a bit poor though. The dialogue is fine; the problem is that the writers never make anything TOO explicit, meaning that if you're not really concentrating and thinking then you'll likely be confused in parts. I kept having to think back to who was chasing who, who was doing what, why people were doing certain things, what this meant for other characters... it didn't make it too easy to watch. There are several turns that the plot goes down, and while the basic storyline is good, it needed to be better written, I feel.

Overall, though, a very good film, and well worth watching. 8/10